Decades later, Willmar 8 are heroes to a new generation

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?article_1_70

By Asa Wilson 6 August 2006

WILLMAR - The wind chill was 70 degrees below zero in December 1977 when the nation’s first bank strike began in Willmar, Minnesota. On the morning of Dec.16, the eight members of Willmar Bank Employees’ Association Local 1 marched out on the sidewalk in front of Citizens’ National, armed with snowmobile suits against the cold and signs against the blatant sexism that reigned at the bank.

When they huddled together in the cold on that first December day, they hoped a contract would bring them back inside within a couple of weeks. When they stepped away from the picket line in 1979, they still had no contract, but they had stirred up the emotions of the nation. Their fight was not about the Citizens’ National Bank in Willmar anymore; it was about the rights of women in America and beyond.

By conventional measures, their nearly two-year-old strike was a failure. But to the Willmar 8, as they came to be known, as well as to many others, their success went beyond anything they had imagined.

From a sidewalk in their town of 14,000 people in western, the Willmar 8 marched into the limelight. They were interviewed by countless newspapers and featured on TV shows, including “Today” and “Donahue.” Actress Lee Grant showed up with a camera crew to make a documentary about their struggle. Within a few months, the Willmar 8 had become so famous that when the post office received a letter addressed to “The Women, Minnesota,” workers knew to deliver it to the Willmar labor hall, where a small room served as strike headquarters.


The Willmar 8


Town reacts in different ways
When the strike was at its peak, few people in Willmar expressed whole-hearted support. As Grant’s documentary demonstrates, the fear of dividing the small community suffocated debate. The local newspaper generally gave the strike only perfunctory coverage. At best, passersby honked and waved.

“People kind of avoided that street,” said Glennis Ter Wisscha, who was only 19 when the strike began. “The action was so unusual that nobody could believe it was happening.”

The strike created stress within marriages, between families and among friends. Three female co-workers at the bank refused to join them on the picket line. Most clergy in town seemed to side with the status quo, Ter Wisscha said, and support from other labor unions was sporadic.

The lawyer who took the women’s case, John Mack, lost his position as county chairman of the Republican Party, but stayed with the Willmar 8 until the end.


FULL story and more at link.

[XanaDUer]

1. Good to hear a Republican did the right thing in this

case.